USC overcomes injuries to take lead on Utah

Posted by Chris Huston on October 26, 2013, 5:47 PM EST

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Much was made of all the injuries to USC this week.

Wide receiver Marqise Lee, all three of the team’s scholarship tight ends, defensive end Morgan Breslin, linebacker Lamar Dawson and running back Justin Davis, among others, were ruled out of today’s game against Utah.

The count of total scholarship players available to USC at kickoff: 48.

That number went down even further when starting right tackle Kevin Graf was carted off with an injury early in the second quarter.

But the Trojans shrugged off the low numbers and took advantage of a slew of Utah turnovers to take a 16-3 halftime lead.

Utah’s offensive progression was abysmal. After getting a 42-yard field goal from Andy Phillips on their first drive, the Utes offense proceeded to punt, throw an interception, lose a fumble, turn the ball over on downs and then close out with two more interceptions.

USC parlayed all four turnovers into points, as placekicker Andre Heidari rebounded from a rough outing against Notre Dame last week to kick three field goals and Cody Kessler threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Nelson Agholor.

For all the talk of the injuries, a basic point was missed: USC is just more talented than Utah, despite being short handed.